Editor:

In August 2025, I wrote about Eisenhower's warning about the influence of the military industrial complex over defense spending. We are now confronted with a bloat of outdated ships, planes that are complicated and expensive to maintain, missiles and other weapons that don't live up to expectations, and the outrageous request for a $1.5 trillion military budget!

Enter the second precision revolution, one that changes the whole meaning of modern warfare. One can launch hundreds if not thousands of low-cost drones against multi-million dollar missiles that can be overwhelmed by sheer numbers of drones which will get by U.S. interceptors.

Aircraft carriers are obsolete when involved in this kind of a war. They cannot get close enough to avoid getting hit by Iranian missiles, thus they are ineffective and are prone to break down as is evidenced by the Abraham Lincoln. 

These are a few examples of our military leadership either not realizing these mistakes, or our military has been culled of protesting voices and leadership in favor of admirals and generals who are contemplating retirement and looking for a second career in the defense industry.

I believe that Iran does not want to get rid of Trump. They have faith that he alone is bringing down America. Why upset the applecart?

Edward Fried 
West Chatham

Editor:

Aviation gasoline is now the largest source of lead emissions in the United States. Studies have found increased levels of lead in the blood of children living near airports. The CDC says there is no safe level of lead in the blood of children. Even low levels have been associated with developmental delays, learning difficulties, and behavioral problems.

The FAA has long advised airports to minimize the public's outdoor exposure to lead emissions and recommends signs discouraging people from remaining in areas where there may be unnecessary exposure.

And what have Chatham Airport officials done? Nothing. Visitors, including young children, congregate at picnic tables mere feet from aircraft operations. The airport restaurant offers outdoor dining. Yet there are no signs informing parents of potential lead exposure.

When airport officials recently met with the Chatham Board of Health, concerns were expressed that warning signs might create "a panic" and result in lost business. That gets the issue backwards. Airport officials may believe the risk is minimal. But they should not make that decision for parents by withholding information. A warning sign doesn't close the airport or restaurant. It simply gives parents information and allows them to decide whether their children should remain close to aircraft operations.

Inform the public. Let parents decide what is best for their children. Withholding that information to avoid alarming visitors or harming business is unconscionable.

David Bixby
Chatham

Editor:

As a former summer and full-time resident, I don’t really have a dog in the residential tax exemption brouhaha. Regardless of the select board’s action, I have consistently opposed its adoption for the reasons expressed by the finance committee, the summer residents advisory committee and letter writers who oppose it. There are valid arguments for and against its adoption. However, one supporting argument deserves closer examination: that second home buyers are responsible for driving up Chatham’s housing prices.

Chatham’s housing prices are not something second home buyers imposed upon Chatham homeowners, but are the product of a market in which Chatham property owners, their heirs and builders willingly seek the highest price the market will bear, just as buyers decide how much they are willing to pay. Chatham sellers are among the principal financial beneficiaries of those rising values.

When a second home buyer pays $2 million for a home that might have sold years ago for a fifth of that, the buyer has certainly contributed to establishing its high market value. But someone also received that $2 million and cannot be excused from contributing to that high value. 

Moreover, longtime residents who don’t sell have benefited from the same market. A resident whose home has appreciated from $300,000 to $1.5 million has gained substantial net worth from rising Chatham property values.

There are legitimate reasons for Chatham to provide tax relief to some (but not all) year-round residents. But assigning responsibility for high housing costs principally to nonresident homeowners is not one of them. It makes little sense to blame one side of those transactions while ignoring the benefit to the other.

George Myers
Venice, Fla.

Editor:

 To President Trump's stable of universally unqualified but fiercely loyal acolytes — Pete Hegseth, RFK JR, and Kash Patel — we can now add ethically challenged Attorney General Todd Blanche. As Trump's personal attorney he defended Trump during the Stormy Daniels hush money case and the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case among others. While this does not disqualify him from serving as attorney general, his actions in the Epstein $1.6 billion slush fund and tax audit immunity granted to Trump, his sons and his businesses do.

After an unannounced, unsupervised and unpublished interview with Ghislane Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's procurer, he immediately arranged her transfer from a maximum federal prison to a minimum level facility. Coincidentally, during that interview she reportedly spoke glowingly of Donald Trump. Thereafter, charged with review and release of the so-called Epstein files, Blanche oversaw release of a limited number of heavily redacted files obscuring the names of potential wrongdoers and revealing the identities of several female victims of Epstein's depravity. He has since continued to evade and downright disobey court orders. To add insult to injury, he refused to meet with Epstein victims until required by a senator whose vote to confirm him depended on such a meeting. That grudging meeting was described by some victims as demeaning and insulting.

As to his defense of the Trump-arranged slush fund, likely available to compensate Jan. 6 participants, and the above-described immunity from federal tax audits, he defended these during his Senate confirmation hearing, agreeing to reduce to writing their non-existence only to secure the deciding vote to confirm. I submit that we have not seen the last of these blatantly illegal decisions.

Todd Blanche is a danger to our democracy that depends on the rule of law and shame on the Senators who sacrificed their integrity to confirm him.

Ralph W. Smith
Harwich Port

Editor:

You don't have to live in Barnstable to be affected by Flock cameras. You may simply be driving through. Flock describes its cameras as taking pictures of license plates. But automated license plate readers (ALPRs) can record much more — including where and when a vehicle was seen along with its make, model, color and other identifying characteristics. That information can become searchable data.

And the scale of that surveillance should concern everyone who drives on Cape Cod.

According to records reported by the Provincetown Independent, in November 2025, agencies outside Barnstable searched data from Barnstable's four Flock cameras 464,863 times. Barnstable police conducted just 220 searches that month. Nearly half a million searches in one month.

Flock cameras have also been used in Dennis, demonstrating that this isn't confined to one community. ALPR systems are increasingly interconnected, allowing information collected in one town to be searched elsewhere.

There are documented cases of ALPR technology being abused, including officers using the systems to track romantic partners and former partners. These are not arguments against legitimate police investigations. They are arguments for limits, transparency and accountability.

Barnstable's Town Council will hold a hearing Thursday, Sept. 3, at 6 p.m. at Barnstable Town Hall to consider getting rid of the town's Flock cameras. Even if you don't live in Barnstable, you have a reason to care. You may simply be passing through. 

You shouldn't have to live in a town to be surveilled by it.

Diane Riche
Barnstable 

Editor:

In Chatham, postponing a decision is often treated as neutral ground. It isn't. Inaction is a deliberate choice to accept the status quo. The residential tax exemption is not a silver bullet, but it is a targeted tool. It's targeted to support the people who make this community function every day: our year-round residents.

We need to pay attention, because we are seeing it now, in real time: Chatham is losing its heart and soul — the generational continuity that allows local families to build lives here. For many summer residents, maintaining a family legacy in Chatham is a cherished reality. For year-round locals, however, that same continuity is fast becoming an impossible dream. As policymakers, we quickly learn how complex and frustrating housing solutions can be. Perfect options don't exist, but that shouldn't cause paralysis. We must do what we can with the tools we have.

Nothing is perfect, but in all my years advocating for affordable housing, two constants have emerged: the need continues to grow, and the gap keeps widening. That gap separates those who qualify for means-tested programs from those who can actually afford market-rate prices. Living in the gap is stressful — a persistent dread of being priced out of your home and uprooted from your neighborhood, family and friends. When our children, friends and neighbors are forced to relocate, the community left behind suffers also; it becomes fragmented, disconnected, and reduced to a nostalgic memory of what used to be.

We all know this. For years, the public message has been clear: our year-round locals need relief that's not means-tested. This is why we decided to pursue attainable housing — because community resilience must be intentionally nurtured. It does not happen by accident.

Means-tested programs cannot single-handedly solve systemic challenges, although they can provide essential, immediate relief. The RTE serves as a complementary tool with a broader reach. It won't solve every problem either, but it represents a critical step forward: an investment in the people who live and work here year-round.

Some call the RTE a blunt instrument, but I see it as an essential tool — one that not only bridges that critical gap, but also reinforces our shared commitment to sustaining a vibrant, year-round community.

Karolyn McClelland 
South Chatham

Editor:

Many thanks to the Chatham Select Board for choosing to save and restore as affordable housing the former Ellis home on Old Harbor Road across from Holy Redeemer Church. The board's wise decision to also have similar small-scale affordable homes built on the town-owned property, avoiding the extreme solution of disruptive large scale apartment buildings, is a sterling example of sensitive, sensible development policy respectful of Chatham's neighborhoods.

This policy should encourage advocates of affordable housing to reach out to each other and find common interest in both affordable housing, long a prominent feature of Chatham life as a working town, and preserving Chatham's small-town quality of life. Chatham cannot be Chatham without housing affordable to workers and their families settling down here. Nor can Chatham remain the small-town we all prize with large, tall, impersonal apartment buildings disrupting the quiet, peaceful enjoyment of our homes.

Rick Leavitt
West Chatham

Editor:

Regarding Mr. Schell’s recent letter in The Cape Cod Chronicle, I was surprised to see that he referenced our 2024 South Chatham Village annual meeting minutes. Reviewing the 2024 minutes, nothing stated that the SCVA requested a sidewalk on the east side of Route 137.

We know that Mr. Schell was a major player on the affordable housing trust and continues to champion the for-profit-developer Pennrose for 90 rental units in West and South Chatham.

Pennrose’s unwillingness to cooperate on sidewalk safety, density and other citizen concerns was laid bare during ZBA hearings. Yet, Mr. Schell in his Aug. 26 Letter continues to mislead the public and to urge the ZBA to issue a permit to Pennrose after the public comment period ended Aug. 20.

Thanks to the ZBA for their due diligence in examining the many flaws in this project.

Carol Gordon
South Chatham